SoVote

Context: House Hansard - 290 - Mar/18/24

Mar/18/24 5:58:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I think those are really great questions for the Liberals within caucus. I certainly have seen some come forward to openly support this and some of those who do not. I am frustrated by the fact that the government seems to want to be able to take two sides on this, when calling for a ceasefire is what I truly believe is necessary, and coming forward. Again, I call for courage within the House. I advocate for all members in the House to do so. I know that, within my community, the frustration with Liberals trying to hold both sides will not continue to hold water.

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Mr. Brian Masse (Windsor West, NDP)

Mar/18/24 5:59:18 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise in this chamber on this very serious issue. I am proud to have a party that is not afraid and that would not run away from the difficult discussions that have to happen on the fact that this country can play a role of positive influence. Like many people, on October 7, we were horrified to see what Hamas had done. The continued killing of hostages is something we can never recover from in any respect, whatsoever, for the people of Israel, who are continuing to suffer from the loss. We know there has been a political movement, even in Israel itself, to free the hostages as a primary element. I can say that, as horrifying as that day was, further killing is not going to bring back the victims. One really important thing to keep in mind in this debate is that in the past, Canada has made, and can make, a difference. This is a discussion that is happening in many chambers across the world, including the United States most recently, where Senator Chuck Schumer intervened on the issue of Netanyahu, calling him a “major obstacle to peace”. Therefore, it is important to recognize the responsible motion that we have put forward here, calling for several objectives that could make a difference for the victims. I am thinking of my area in Windsor-Detroit where, outside of the Middle East, we have the largest Muslim population and many Palestinians and others. I am thinking of my friend Rashida Tlaib. Every time we have touched base on this issue and on other things, it has always ended with “save lives”. I had a chance to visit with her in Washington, D.C., this past week, and I can tell members again that the message right now is how we can continue to save lives. What Canada needs to do right now is to put further pressure to see this happen. I have been in this chamber and have seen what can take place when Canada goes to the roots of its democracy in this chamber and how it can make a difference. I had a motion on the genocide in Srebrenica that was passed in this chamber. It was done with the Conservatives at that time. Lawrence Cannon, the minister of transport at the time, also took an interest in this. We passed a motion that recognized Srebrenica as a genocide. The reason I raise this as an important factor is that I went to Bosnia and later to Sarajevo. In Sarajevo there is the monument that recognizes the children who were murdered. It has two pillars on the inside and also has an area that goes around it with the footprints of children to recognize their lives that were lost. I went to the Srebrenica–Potočari Memorial. Right now, it recognizes 8,372 victims who have been identified, and each year, 25 years later, there are still more bodies being found and identified because there are 7,000 or more missing. At that time, there were 8,000 Muslim boys, men and youth murdered and massacred in eight days. The world did not act enough at that time, so now it has been called the biggest forensic puzzle in the world. I remember going there after we passed our motion. It is actually recognized in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I felt ashamed, basically, that all we could offer at that time was recognition of their suffering as they continued to grieve. I will never forget meeting with the mothers of the genocide victims down at the site. I will never forget when one of them grabbed my arm and thanked me. Meanwhile, that day, she was burying her son and her husband, and all that was left of them were pieces of their arms and shoulders. That is all there was to identify them. She thanked me and presented me with the flower of Srebrenica, which has 11 petals in recognition of that day in July. What happens every year on July 11 now is unbelievable. When I went there, I had to have a bodyguard with me. When that bodyguard went to pray, I had to go into a bunker because of concerns and issues that still take place. There are thousands of people in this graveyard, over 8,000 already, and small coffins are identified. There were over 500 the day I was there, and they are draped. The people refuse to take money from the United Nations or other organizations, and they do this every year. The coffin is passed above the heads of the people standing there. One does not move; the coffin moves. It makes its way, all the way, to the gravesite. I am raising this because lives do matter here, and acting and doing something is more. The longer we wait, the longer we call for a ceasefire, the more suffering there is, and that is not going to bring anybody back. That has to be the primary concern right now. The motion that we have is consistent with what we, as New Democrats, have been calling for since day one, which is to call for the ceasefire. That was, in the days of old, the usual position for Canada, to use our weight to help move others toward more peaceful solutions than what exist right now. Sadly, I know of families who have lost dozens of people in my riding and in other places because they lived together. To get the idea, Gaza itself is the size of Detroit. There is just nowhere people can go to be safe. We know now that starvation issue is at a high-water mark in many respects. People have resorted to eating pigeon food and grass. We have seen a rise of anti-Semitism in the past in this country, and I want to note that. I understand the pain and suffering because I have seen it in my own community, even long before this, when swastikas were painted on sidewalks or in front of people's homes. All that still exists in our society, and it is something we have to continue to fight against every single day. However, we are not going to be able to fix anything until there is a ceasefire. If we could help move other countries in that direction, then we could save lives. That is the most important thing I will continue to resort to in that regard. I have seen pictures of children in Egypt missing limbs, and some in our community are trying to see if they could bring them back here because they now have no other relatives; maybe they have a cousin here. The 1,000 cap is just unbelievably cruel. It is unbelievably cruel to give false hope for even those 1,000 people as they scramble, and we cannot get anybody over here. We talk about the people we are trying to bring here. Just like in the past, who are the Palestinians in my community? They are doctors, lawyers and health care professionals. They are also teachers, and workers. Those are the people contributing right now. The frustration of being helpless in this is very difficult for them and for their families. There is a guilt factor, especially with Ramadan right now. Here, they have access to fasting and have water and food later on. Their relatives or family friends do not know if they can contact them tomorrow, because if there is no cell phone or Internet service, they may not be able to connect with them. It brings me to an important point when it comes to civil society and collectivity, not only here. We have people like Donald Trump saying things like “finish the problem” versus what we have seen in the past, which was Canada using its weight to push the United States to call for ceasefires at different points in time. If we do not exercise that ability here in this chamber with this motion, then what do we stand for? We stand for, basically, calling ourselves out of the international equation of humanitarian relief. We have witnessed churches, synagogues and a mosque being vandalized over the last number of years. If we turn away from this now, as well, we are also going to witness Canada distancing itself from international responsibility where we can help out. Unfortunately, the sad thing about this, as a return, is that we cannot stop the damage done, but we can stop more. That is why I went to Srebrenica, and I want to finish with this. Senad was a Canadian who was from Bosnia and who served in the hospitals. He worked with me on this bill. Sadly, he died of leukemia. When we went there, the strongest message we heard, in our humility, was that at least Canada had a voice and that at least Canada did something. That was better than nothing. It was important enough for them to say thanks.

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Ms. Elizabeth May (Saanich—Gulf Islands, GP)

Mar/18/24 6:09:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the words of the member for Windsor West moved and touched me. I would really love if it were absolutely true that, regardless of party, we were taking steps to see that this country does more, whatever we are capable of doing, in the heavy lifting to bring about peace. We know that peaceful solutions do not come without much diplomacy and much moral suasion to say we have to protect the lives of children and we defend the lives of Israeli and Palestinian children. I think this motion helps us to get there. Can my hon. colleague from Windsor West think of any other way that we can get partisanship out of our way, because it stands in the way of peace?

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Mr. Brian Masse

Mar/18/24 6:10:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the things we have to drive toward here are results and expectations. The clock is ticking every single day on individuals, and we do have some value and worth in this discussion. If we all truly believe in getting to that place, then time is going to measure us in terms of what we did not do in this chamber and the result of that ineffectiveness, which is currently the policy of the government. We must allow this motion to pass.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mar/18/24 6:10:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would not try to frame the discussion of what is currently happening as being ineffective. If the member was listening to the Minister of Foreign Affairs earlier, she was very clear and her comments very much reflected what I believe are Canadian values. As we continue to move forward, we are listening to Canadians and looking at what our allied countries, in particular the G7, are doing. At the end of the day, with the heartache that Canadians are experiencing over this issue, such as, for example, the racial tensions that are picked up on, there is an important role for this chamber. To what degree has the NDP worked with all parties in this area to agree on a motion that would be passed by all?

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Mr. Brian Masse

Mar/18/24 6:11:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, maybe the member is right. Liberals have been effective in burning up time when we could have saved lives. That is the real issue New Democrats have with them. We have called for a ceasefire consistent with what Canadian values used to be many decades ago, even under Liberal regimes. I was here for the debate when we were deciding whether to take part in the war in Iraq, and I can say there was never a point in time, in debates back and forth, we could escape the fact that we played some role with the UN or the United States or other democracies across the world. Today, the Liberals have sidelined our effectiveness and basically neutered our position internationally.

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Mr. Shuvaloy Majumdar (Calgary Heritage, CPC)

Mar/18/24 6:12:44 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have spent years living under the rockets of Iranian-backed militias, so I have some experience in the question of how lives are saved. Saving lives is genuinely at the core of what we are all here to do, so I would take exception to the hon. member's presuming that there are members in this chamber who are not interested in the primacy of that. It is clear to Conservatives that Hamas terrorism upon Israelis and Hamas tyranny upon Palestinians describes that the responsibility of the conflict today rests on the shoulders of Hamas. The pressure should be placed on Hamas and Iran rather than the democratic State of Israel for which the International Court of Justice found no act or culpability of genocide. Do New Democrats believe that the Iranian-backed Hamas should release the hostages, lay down their arms and unconditionally surrender? Does the member agree that this would be the quickest way to save lives and end the conflict right now, yes or no?

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Mr. Brian Masse

Mar/18/24 6:13:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, of course, we want Hamas to no longer inflict violence, and never ever should any other result be presumed. However, at the same time and in the meantime, killing children and women disproportionately is not a solution. It is a consequence of the real math in terms of the geography, the weapons that are being used and where people can come and go. It is going to happen because the math has shown consistently, since this started, that this will be the end result. We have seen that with humanitarian aid workers and with children, mothers, fathers and other family members being wiped out in clusters because they live together. The math is all there. That is the problem with assuming we can allow all that to happen. That is just not a good way forward.

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The Deputy Speaker

Mar/18/24 6:14:53 p.m.
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Let us keep the questions and answers really short, so more people can participate. We got three done, just like the time before. We'll move on to the next speech. Resuming debate, the hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board.

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Mr. Anthony Housefather (Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board, Lib.)

Mar/18/24 6:15:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am a Canadian. I am a Jew. I am a Zionist. I am proud to have been born in this country. I am proud that my family came here in the 19th century and helped to build this country. My family members fought in World War I and World War II. We are part of Canada and lucky to be so. I have represented Canada in swimming internationally. I have represented Canada as a parliamentarian. There is no place in the world I want to be other than in Canada. The Jewish community, of which I am part, is a religious community that has existed for thousands of years, but we are also a people. Since we have been here in 1760, we have helped build this country. We got enormous opportunities, more than we've received anywhere else in history. In academia, law, medicine, physics, science, sports and journalism, we have helped build this country. Ninety-five per cent of Canadian Jews are Zionists. Zionism means we believe that we have a right to have one Jewish state in our ancestral homeland. Jews are indigenous to Israel. We have a history where Jews have faced persecution in every country in the world. We were expelled from England in 1290. We were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 1490s. We faced the Crusades, where people were killed. We were put in ghettos throughout Europe. We faced the Holocaust. Jews were expelled from Arab lands in the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies. We needed one place where every Jew in the world knew that, if things went wrong in their country, they could go. That is Israel. That is what Zionism means. I get horrible threats and emails saying that I am a dirty Zionist, instead of a dirty Jew, but this is what Zionism means. There are all these demonstrations around the country outside of synagogues, outside of Jewish schools and outside of Jewish community centres, where people are screaming about how horrible Zionists are. I am a Zionist. I am not embarrassed or ashamed of being a Zionist. Canadian Jews should not have to live through what we are living through right now. My community is terrified. We are being intimidated over and over by people protesting outside of Jewish buildings. Canadian Jews have no control over what happens in the State of Israel, yet, for some reason, Jewish buildings across this country are being targeted. In my own riding, at the Jewish community offices, where the Jewish Public Library and the Holocaust museum are located, demonstrators went on private property, surrounded the building, blocked access to the building and blocked anyone from leaving for over three hours. This is happening all over the place. The demonstrators, while they are allowed and right to demonstrate wherever they want, cannot go on private property and cannot block other people from exercising their right to free speech. If I cannot enter a building to hear a speaker and they block me, yell at me, scream at me and stop me from going in, then their rights are infringing on my rights. The police need to step in and act as police. All leaders across this country need to tell them to do so, because this is not fair. It is too much. Jewish Canadians do not deserve this. Jewish students have told me of horrible stories happening on campuses across this country, from British Columbia to Newfoundland, about being intimidated on campus, about walking into dormitories and having anti-Israel slogans on the walls. They walk into a building and they are asked if they are a Zionist. If they are Zionist, supposedly they are not allowed into their dorm. This is not Canada. This is not the country that I know and love. Nobody should be forced to feel this way. This is how I get to this motion. Right now the Jewish community is demoralized and intimidated. This motion would create one winner and one loser. Most Canadian Muslims will vastly support this motion. They are feeling lots of pain right now, watching the events that are happening in Gaza. If this motion is adopted, Canadian Jews will feel tremendous pain because the way the motion is constructed would clearly create a false equivalency between the State of Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas. In the event that we want this war to end, Hamas can easily lay down arms and surrender, return the hostages and stop using citizens of Gaza as human shields. Essentially, while I appreciate my colleagues in the NDP, this motion, as some other colleagues have said, rewards Hamas. We, for generations in Canada, under successive Liberal and Conservative governments, have said that the way to recognize a Palestinian state, which we all want, living in peace side by side with Israel and to offer dignity to both peoples should come when the two parties negotiate their borders and the Palestinians elect a government to govern that territory. The West Bank is governed by Fatah, which has been in power without an election for 20 years. Mr. Abbas was elected in 2004. On the other side, in Gaza, there is a terrorist organization, Hamas, that has not held elections since 2007 and is recognized by Canada as being a terrorist organization. Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Israel, the deadliest pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust, and we would be changing our foreign policy to reward Hamas and say, “Good for you, terrorists. You attacked a sovereign state, killed lots of people, including babies, women and everyone else, raped, pillaged and brought people back as hostages, who have now been there for almost five months. Let us recognize that state that we have never recognized before.” What a great idea for other places in the world where terrorism foments. Who would love this? Iran would love this, because Iran is the people in the Middle East who are fomenting terrorism everywhere. Whether it is Hezbollah in the north or Hamas in the south, Iran is supporting this and loving every minute as the world tears itself apart to criticize Israel instead of focusing on Iran and its regime. When we talk about arms sales, let us first recognize that the American government supplies billions of dollars of arms to Israel. Canada and the Canadian government do not sell arms to Israel directly. We have provided, for many years, only non-lethal weapons, because nobody has applied for lethal weapon permits, and these non-lethal weapons are going to a friend and ally, Israel, at a time of war. We can imagine what the world would look like if all the countries in the world, which I presume is the principle of the motion, said they would not ship arms or even non-lethal weapons to Israel, while Hamas and Hezbollah would continue to get their weapons from Iran through Egypt and through Lebanon. Israel, while it has missiles launched at it from Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, would be unable to fight back and would be bereft of weapons. That is the false equivalency that we are now making between Hamas, a terrorist organization, and Israel. I do not think this motion goes toward furthering anything toward peace. In fact, it would do the opposite. It would tell our friend and ally that it is being treated in a different way than the terrorist organization, which is benefiting from weapons being shipped to it. I had the opportunity, with the member for Calgary Nose Hill, the member for Eglinton—Lawrence, the member for Thornhill and the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, to visit Israel. We saw the wreck and the destruction of Hamas. We visited a kibbutz, where we saw buildings burned and people who had been burned to death in their safe rooms. We saw blood splattered all over the place and houses ransacked. We heard from people who had been terrorized. Members have to understand that Israel feels that, if it does not destroy the terrorist group Hamas, there will be another pogrom that kills more Israelis tomorrow, the next week or the next month. I understand how horrible it is to see the situation in Gaza. I understand how the world looks at it with revulsion as we see people dying, but we also have to understand that a democratic nation has been, on many occasions, attacked and had wars started against it, and now all sides in Israel feel they need to fight back. I stand with Israel, our democratic ally and our friend. A time of war is when we look at countries and ask if they stand with our ally or not. Canada should be standing with Israel. Canada should be defending the right of Israel to fight back against a terrorist organization. We should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state.

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Ms. Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre, NDP)

Mar/18/24 6:24:56 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have to say, as a Jew, listening to my colleague across the way talk about our view as Jews as universal, in terms of our position on Israel, is extremely painful. I know that his position comes from a place of deep intergenerational trauma and the experience of genocide, including what my family went through. I acknowledge that, but I want to ask the member across the way this: When he sees a child, because we know over 30,000 people in Gaza who have been murdered are women and children, does he see Hamas or does he see a child? What I see are fellow human beings. I do not see a Palestinian. I do not see a Jew. I see a human being, and I am wondering if he supports peace with the purpose of stopping the murder of children.

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Mr. Anthony Housefather

Mar/18/24 6:26:12 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, any death of a human being is a tragedy. We are getting statistics, and the hon. member mentioned the figure of 30,000 from the Hamas ministry of health, but I do not know how accurate that is. I do know that many of those people are Hamas fighters. Of course, there are innocent civilians killed in wars, and we feel horrible for the fact that they are innocent civilians. We have to call upon Israel to exercise maximum restraint. Of course, I would love to see a temporary ceasefire for six weeks, for example, as called for by the Americans, but Hamas needs to agree. We have had Hamas break previous ceasefires. We have had Hamas refuse to release the hostages, and until those hostages are released, it is very unfair to say to Israel, “Leave your people in tunnels under Gaza forever”, which I think is essentially being called for in the motion before us.

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Mr. Pat Kelly (Calgary Rocky Ridge, CPC)

Mar/18/24 6:27:10 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, does the member think that an opposition motion from the fourth party in this chamber is the correct way for the foreign policy of Canada to be conducted and for decisions on recognition of statehood to be made?

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Mr. Anthony Housefather

Mar/18/24 6:27:31 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely not. Again, I think this motion would bring pain to one of two communities in Canada because one strongly wants it to pass and one strongly wants it to fail. Certainly, foreign policy written this way is not a good thing when we would be saying that we are suddenly going to recognize the state of Palestine unilaterally, when for 50 years, under successive Liberal and Conservative governments, we have said that the parties need to negotiate. The two-state solution will only recognize a state when there are defined borders and a government duly elected to run that state. However, to change it because a terrorist organization murders Israelis is a really bad precedent to set for the world, so of course I agree that we should not be doing that.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, Lib.)

Mar/18/24 6:28:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask the member if he could reflect on the impact the situation is having here in Canadian society, and I am speaking specifically of racial incidents in our communities and of Canadian values.

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Mr. Anthony Housefather

Mar/18/24 6:28:38 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the war in the Middle East has torn the fabric of this country apart. We are seeing people who are passionate and emotional on both sides who are speaking past each other often, and it is tragic to watch. However, I have to say that the main issue I see are the demonstrations that are crossing the line and verging on intimidation and hate speech, surrounding Jewish buildings and doing things that create fear and all kinds of intimidation for the Jewish community. It is not right, as I mentioned before, that synagogues, Jewish community centres, Jewish schools, or Jewish businesses for that matter, are the focus of these protests. We, as Jews in Canada, do not control what is happening in the State of Israel, and this has to stop. It must end.

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Mr. Chandra Arya (Nepean, Lib.)

Mar/18/24 6:29:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, today we are debating one of the most important topics, which appears to be about foreign policy, but it actually goes deep into exploring who we are as compassionate Canadians. Since being elected about eight and half years ago, I have been a strong public and vocal supporter of the just cause of Palestinian people. For the first time in the history of the Canadian Parliament, I hosted a day about Palestine on Parliament Hill. On November 29, 2021, on the United Nations International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, I called on Canada to recognize the state of Palestine. It was probably the first time in the history of the Canadian Parliament that any member speaking in this chamber demanded recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. I repeated my call again on June 6, 2022, and again, that same year on November 29. In 2023, on November 29, I called on Canada to ask for a permanent ceasefire and recognize the sovereign state of Palestine. Since I was elected in 2015, I have participated in numerous events and protests along with Palestinian Canadians and others. What I and many other Canadians were afraid of all these years is happening right now in Gaza. Before I proceed further, let me mention a few Canadians who are having the nightmare scenario they have dreaded actually unfolding in front their eyes. They are Burhan Shahrouri and Jamal Hamed, the former presidents of Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians; Mousa Zaidan, the national coordinator of the Coalition of Canadian Palestinian Organizations; Dr. Habib Khoury of Ottawa Run for Palestine; Thomas Woodley, president of CJPME, or Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East; Corey Balsam, national coordinator for Independent Jewish Voices Canada; Dr. Mohamad Abu Awad from the Canadian Palestinian Professional Foundation; and Rashad Saleh, the president of the Arab-Palestine Association of Ontario. These Canadians and many others have struggled through long years advocating for the just cause of Palestinian peoples. Let me be very clear. I have condemned, and I will continue to condemn, the barbaric and inhuman acts of the terrorist group Hamas on October 7, and I demand the immediate release of all hostages. After the horrific attacks of October 7, three of us from the House, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and I, were at the Ottawa Jewish community centre standing in solidarity with Jewish Canadians and the people of Israel. We all should condemn the terrorist organization of Hamas. At the same time, we need to condemn the Israeli equivalent of Hamas. There is more in common between the extremists in the current Israeli government and Hamas. They both have acted in tandem on maintaining the status quo to achieve their objectives. Hamas does not believe in a two-state solution. It wants to wipe out Israel. The extremists in the current Israeli government also do not believe in a two-state solution. They want a greater Israel, which includes West Bank and Gaza, and they want to oppress Palestinians with their apartheid policies. When it comes to its intent about Israel, Hamas has made clear its evil intent in its charter. When it comes to their intent on Palestine, here is the intent of the extremists in the current Israeli government: The Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, while addressing Israeli soldiers attacking Gaza, invoked the Biblical story of Amalek, which basically says to go and attack, sparing no one, to kill all men, women, infants and animals. An extremist, the Israeli minister of defence, called Palestinians “human animals”. He stated that “Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything.” Another extremist, the Israeli minister of agriculture said, “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba”. These extremists in the current Israeli government have a stronger hand with their resources and their military power compared to their equivalent in the Hamas, and they are using their brutal strength to achieve their genocidal objectives. On the question of genocidal intent, the strongest and most powerful words I have heard came from the Israeli-born professor at Brown University, Omer Bartov. He is a respected historian of the Holocaust and genocide. He wrote in The New York Times, on November 10, 2023, “My greatest concern watching the Israel-Gaza war unfold is that there is genocidal intent, which can easily tip into genocidal action.” Again, this is from an Israeli-born professor who is a respected historian of the Holocaust and genocide. The genocidal intent has transformed into action. Over 31,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed by the current extremist Israeli government. Over two-thirds of the structures have been destroyed or damaged. When it is using 2,000 pounds of dumb bombs, possibly provided to it by its friendly western countries, these deaths and destruction should not be a surprise. Let me be clear that the extremists in the current Israeli government do not represent the people of Israel. They do not represent the vast majority of Jewish Israelis and Arab lsraelis. Before entering politics, I visited Israel twice. I also visited Palestine after I was elected. I had good exposure to Israeli society when I was there. I have utmost respect and admiration for the majority of Israeli citizens, both Jewish and Arab. In Canada, after being elected, several times, when invited, I attended the Israeli flag raising ceremony at the Ottawa City Hall. During my visit to Palestine, it was not hard to notice the oppressive regime of the occupying power and the depressive nature of several generations of Palestinians in refugee camps. I am probably the only member here of both the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group and the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, so it is with the utmost respect and humbleness, for the safety and security of Israel and Jewish Israelis, Arab Israelis and for the safety and dignity of the Palestinian people, that I ask members to let us all do the right thing. Let us start with the recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine. There are 139 countries around the world that have recognized Palestine. Canada has to take a step forward to change our attitude toward the Middle East, starting with the recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine.

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Mr. Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, NDP)

Mar/18/24 6:38:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, about an hour ago I substituted at the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. We had a briefing from the assistant deputy minister responsible for the Middle East branch of that department. Now, this is in the context of the Leader of the Opposition calling UNRWA a terrorist organization. The assistant deputy minister confirmed that the agency employs 33,000 people and that the interim investigation found 12 people out of 33,000 were to be held responsible. The department also confirmed that none of our major allies regard UNRWA as a terrorist organization, and it is not the department of Global Affairs Canada. Can my hon. colleague comment on those irresponsible comments by the Leader of the Opposition, and will the Liberals commit to funding UNRWA, which is the only legitimate organization that can deliver aid to the Palestinians, who so desperately need it at this moment?

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Mr. Chandra Arya

Mar/18/24 6:39:04 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, during my visit to Palestine, the West Bank, I did see the excellent work done by UNRWA. When UNRWA chiefs called our government and said that there had been allegations that 13 of the 33,000 employees were somehow participating in or helped in the October 7 attack, we had to take the responsible position of pausing the funding. However, after due reflection and after getting the reports, we lifted the pause. There was no cut to UNRWA funding from Canada. The last installment was given to UNRWA in December 2023, and the next pre-committed payment is due only in April. We have lifted the pause that was laid, so there was no funding that was cut to UNRWA at all.

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Hon. Michelle Rempel Garner (Calgary Nose Hill, CPC)

Mar/18/24 6:40:06 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my concern with the motion is the complete lack of accountability that it asks Canadian Parliament to deliver to Hamas. What I did not hear my colleague talk about was the fact that Hamas is a listed terrorist organization in Canada. He did not reaffirm that. He did not condemn the acts, the brutal rape and murder of over 1,000 Israelis on October 7, 2023. He did not call for the unilateral release of hostages and the unilateral surrender of Hamas right now. Instead, he is making the argument to Parliament that we should reward the behaviour of Hamas by supporting the motion. Why is he?

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